Most schools have you formally apply (with fee) to the University before approving your prescreen (if there is one) and allowing you to schedule an audition. This makes perfect sense to me. What doesn’t however, is that some schools will not go ahead and admit you academically if you qualify. The application just sits there for months and puts you further down in the housing queue, etc. if you were to attend. This really matters most at larger schools, where it is literally a race to get housing. I also think it is a courtesy to an applicant, who has written essays just like the rest of the applicant pool, to get an answer in the same timely manner.
There are also some schools that will allow someone who was not admitted to the BFA to attend as a BA and try again for BFA in the future.
I don’t mind the all-or-nothing, especially because a school like CMU holds their BFA applicants to different standards than their general college applicant. But I do object to having to apply to (and pay for) the entire university before a prescreen. You don’t have to have been academically reviewed to submit a prescreen, so basically you’re paying the general university application fee for the university to have done nothing if you don’t pass the prescreen.
@lovetoact, that’s my pet peeve, too. The process is costly enough without paying app fees for colleges that tell you they don’t want you based on a 30-second look at a pre-screen. All hail Otterbein, which does not require pay-before-prescreen. And Steven’s Point, which does not require pay-before-audition.
And is this not one of the small reasons why college costs have ballooned in recent years–administrators finding busy-work to create yet more administrative jobs (anxiously awaits avalanche of criticism in defense of admin and interns)
I still say a pre-screen is a LOT cheaper way to find out if a school is interested than a trip to an audition
While NYU and CMU give just one acceptance, they do give all their acceptances–to all majors–at the same time.
@toowonderful, the issue is not with the prescreen, but with the double dipping for fees
Apropos of post #1104, I really prefer the schools that give all their admissions decisions to everyone on the same date. The dribble dribble of decisions just adds more stress and being unsure of what to expect and when.
By the way, the housing issue being discussed here is only an issue at SOME schools…particularly some very large or public universities. This is not, however, how it is done at many private schools. At the schools my own kids attended and most of the ones they applied to, housing arrangements do not start until AFTER May 1, when students have committed to enroll. When you are admitted has nothing to do with housing. The only exception I can think of was that at NYU, those who got in Early Decision, when it came to housing, (still done AFTER May 1), got first dibs. My D applied Regular Decision, but her chosen roommate whom she knew from our home state, was an ED admit, and they did get their first choice dorm.
@soozievt - these days at NYU you can’t pick even your freshman roommate! You get the book with info about dorms- and rank from there, all done after May 1 
OH, well, it is still after May 1, as it was with my other D’s school too. But I didn’t know you could not request a freshman roommate! I guess that changed at NYU.
Must be a fairly recent thing- as I believe halflokum’s D could still pick hers - and she is only 2 years older than mine. It’s kind of nice that it is random- you don’t have to worry about it- and teaches you to live with all sorts. My D’s roommates last year (4 girls in a suite) were from Vancouver, Texas and San Fransisco. All different types of majors. A cool experience
I agree @soozievt that the dribble dribble of decisions really ramps up the anxiety (which is why I find myself on this board a lot–LOL) but early admits can help those who received them to breathe easier knowing they got in somewhere (D is not in anywhere yet). And, on the flip side, a handful of early denials can give a person a bit of time to add a few more schools to their audition list. I think @KaMaMom was able to help her D last year search out other good programs mid-season and find a good fit as a result of some earlier “no’s.” It’s tough all the way around. The waiting is the hardest part for me. D is hanging in there. She feels she’s done all she could do on her end so now she’s turned her attention to other things, like homework. I’m a closet CC’r in my house, a closet worrier.
@HappyDancer98 and @soozievt, I couldn’t agree more. I’m thankful to the schools that sent early denials, even though they were bitter pills to take early in the process. It helped my son understand just how competitive the field is and made him willing to send out a couple of mid-season apps, write new essays, etc. Now, we’re waiting on a bunch of schools, all saying decisions will be made in March or April. I have moments when I’m convinced he’s going to be this season’s exception-to-prove-the-rule who gets in nowhere. That’s when I have to talk myself down from the wire and resist the urge to create a new spreadsheet for Class of 2021 auditions.Thankfully, he is still chill, while I am a hopeless bag of nerves. …
@toowonderful My NYU D for freshman year was in an apartment style dorm. She did pre-arrange and know the roommate that shared her bedroom (they had done theater productions and voice lessons together in our state, but not from same community or school, and also roomed together a few summers at theater camp around the middle school years…and they roomed together again sophomore year…that friend has been successful on Broadway and National tours since graduating, in significant roles). However, the other two girls in the other bedroom in their shared apartment freshmen year were randomly assigned.
My other D, who went to Brown, had a randomly assigned roommate freshman year and they liked each other enough to choose to room together again sophomore year.
Just to clarify,when I referred to the dribble and drabble style of admissions notifications, I was thinking more about the schools that do not notify all or THEIR applicants at one time, and not so much that not all schools notify applicants around the same time as other schools. I just think that schools that don’t tell every applicant the results one way or the other on the same date (unless a school has rolling admissions or ED/EA) adds more confusion and stress and analyzing and guessing meanings.
It’s definitely some of the bigger schools where housing is an issue, but it is something people should know and I think schools should consider in notifications. At many large public universities, you are put in a housing queue by when you are accepted and pay the deposit. You don’t select rooms or roommates until later, but the room selection order is determined by acceptance date-- which is as early as October at some schools.
University of Minnesota allows you to put down $25 to fill out the housing application once accepted. Then, later (by May 1 I think) they require more of a deposit if you commit to them. I like this option b/c you only lose $25 if your child doesn’t end up there. To me it was worth it to fill it out and make the request for the dorm she would want (there is a dorm there that is where most of the theatre students live and is across from their classroom building).
$25 is very reasonable! The schools I know of are in the $250-300 range-- and you have to pay non-refundable enrollment first.
Minnesota asks for the enrollment fee and housing deposit by May 1 - but you can fill out the application for housing without paying that (just putting down the $25 housing application fee). It is a great option @mtgirl225
@soozievt - in complete agreement. It’s the fits and starts ones which cause all the nerves and conjecture and certainty of doom, not to mention constant CC checking, only to be uplifted on hearing that others on that audition date haven’t heard either, et cet et cet. I would far prefer to wait a couple of extra weeks, completely in the dark, knowing that everyone - in/out/WL will be notified at the same time. Was happy to note that it’s now Feb. 2-something rather than 1-something. Bringing it all closer to that magical (excluding waltlists…) first of April. It’s the little things…